This week, Activision released a promo video for their new foray into the Guitar Hero money-pile. If you were expecting Aerosmith or even the rumored Beatles, you would be very wrong -- this new beacon of originality is coming to the Nintendo DS. Let me say this one more time. Activision announced Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS.

Now let that sink in. Brings up a curious visual, doesn't it? Even more curious is their peripheral.

First, allow me to point out a should-be-obvious logistical problem. In order to hold the DS in such a way as to get your fingers on the buttons the way you would when playing Guitar Hero at home, the player needs to position the screen horizontally to themselves, thus making the vertical appearance of the game useless. If the player holds the DS like a book, they would then find the problem of the strum being vertical, as well as fret positioning being radically different from the norm. If they were trying to bring the look and feel of Guitar Hero to a portable platform, then it appears that they've failed so far.

Now for problem number two. Portable gaming exists to keep people entertained when out-and-about in the world. I can't even imagine how many people must play their DS on the daily bus ride, the occasional travel flight, or even at the office. What would happen when you take Average Joe Gamer and put Guitar Hero into their DS and have them jam during their typical portable session?

Try explaining to everyone around you in society that the freakish wrist movements, twitching fingers, and likely low-bitrate music that coincide with your faux-dance are all the result of a video game.